1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to spring clips of the type employed for releasably supporting articles on a surface and more particularly to an improved spring clip which may be releasably mounted on a support surface and which may easily be operated to releasably attach articles on or release articles from the support surface.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Spring clips have long been used to mount articles on support surfaces such as mirrors, doors, automobile windshields, walls, refrigerators, store windows, pegboards and the like, and various means such as suction cups, magnets and the like have been used to releasably attach the spring clip to the surface to which the articles are to be mounted. Examples of such prior art devices may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 957,804; 993,989; 2,505,899 and 2,800,078, each of which disclose a suction cup molded of a resilient rubber or rubber-like material having a thickened central body portion and an elongated resilient spring element molded within and extending outwardly from the body portion. The elongated springs are shaped to have one end projecting outwardly past the suction cup in position to bear against and be deformed by the surface to which the suction cup is attached.
The prior art spring clips of this general type have not been entirely satisfactory in that it has generally been necessary to physically lift the resilient spring element from the surface to which the device is mounted, thereby applying a lifting force acting against the suction force of the cup. This frequently resulted in the partial vacuum created by the resiliency of the suction cup being partially or entirely relieved, with the result that the suction cup frequently fell off the surface. Further, manually lifting the spring element required physically grasping the spring or inserting something under the terminal end portion of the spring to pry it from contact with the support surface to enable an article to be inserted thereunder. Thus, lifting the spring element was frequently awkward or inconvenient, making the devices difficult to use.
The use of magnetic mounting structures for spring clips generally has been limited to an arrangement wherein a separately operable spring biased clamping arrangement is physically mounted upon a rigid support which in turn is attached to a body of magnetic material which may be magnetically attracted and held onto a metallic surface. The magnetic mounting structure generally has a dimension sufficiently great to permit a push action release of the spring biased clamp without dislodging the magnetic support to enable an article to be inserted into the open jaws of the clamp at a location spaced from the support surface. While such devices are widely used, their construction is relatively expensive and they are only useful for mounting articles onto a magnetic surface. The spring biased clamping structure conventionally used on such clamps generally are not adaptable to a resilient mounting structure such as a suction cup or on a resilient body or head attached to a fastener such as a screw or the like. Further, neither the spring biased magnetically supported clamping devices nor the suction cup mounted spring clips has generally been universally adaptable to many mounting surfaces such as unfinished or semi-finished wood, drywall, plaster, fabric or pegboard type surfaces. Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved, easy-to-use spring clip which overcomes the disadvantages of the known prior art spring clips.
Another object is to provide such an improved spring clip structure which is universally adaptable to be mounted on various types of surfaces and to use different, interchangeable mounting means for attaching the spring clip to different surfaces.
Another object is to provide such an improved spring clip which may be operated by a simple push action which does not apply undue stress to the mounting structure or tend to dislodge the mounting structure from the support surface.